Reds Release Jeff Francis

The Reds have released Jeff Francis at his request according to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN (on Twitter). The veteran southpaw exercised a June 1st opt-out clause in his minor league contract.

Francis, 31, pitched to a 3.72 ERA with 7.6 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 in 77 1/3 innings across 12 starts for Cincinnati's Triple-A affiliate. He threw a nine-inning complete game shutout just last night. Given his solid performance in the minors and the demand for pitching, Francis could wind up signing a Major League contract and join a team's rotation in short order.

As a Reds fan, this sucks. It was nice to have some veteran depth in AAA in case of injuries or poor performances. Here is where I would add “guess he didn’t want to get a World Series ring this year…” but I will refrain due to the inevitable string of negative comments. I’m sure he’ll find a place to start as a #4 or 5.

Well, since you didn’t refrain, here goes. I’m sure he cares a lot more about earning a major league paycheck than the remote chance the Reds have at getting a ring stacked on top of the smallish chance that he will ever even crack the major league rotation.